Two years ago Danielle Brown made history by crossing over from Paralympic sport to become the first English Paralympian to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal in an able-bodied event.

But she says the pressure on her to succeed this week when she competes in the archery contest will be much greater, and she views the Paralympics as the more prestigious event.

Winning gold in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games was, she says, "an incredible moment", but the event pales in comparison to the Paralympics. "The Paralympics is more serious; I treat the able-bodied events more as fun," she says. "The Paralympics is the most prestigious event I could compete in. I'm really proud to be part of the team."

She feels irritated when she senses that people are being dismissive of the Paralympics. "People say: 'It's great that you're competing, and taking part.' And I think, well the Paralympics isn't about giving disabled people something to do," she says.

The 24-year-old Brown had a very sporty childhood; until she was 13 she was signed up for every after-school sports activity going, and spent the weekends hill walking, fell-running and cycling with her family. "My Dad's a lunatic; he was into long-distance fell-running. That was the sort of upbringing I had. I really enjoyed sport," she says. "It all got taken away from me when I became disabled."

She began noticing intense pain in her feet at around 11. This then spread to her legs, and by the age of 13 the chronic pain had become so severe that she was no longer able to do any sport that involved using her legs.

"I've got complex regional pain syndrome in my feet, which means I'm in chronic pain all the time – so I had to give it all up. It was driving me nuts, sitting at home all the time. I wanted to do something. I didn't know about Paralympic sports and I didn't consider myself to be disabled – I didn't get diagnosed until I was 16."

Her father gave her lessons as a 15th birthday present and she quickly channelled all her enthusiasm for sport into archery. Her refusal to consider herself disabled continued, and she resisted using a wheelchair until she joined the Paralympics squad, when she realised that it wouldn't necessarily represent an admission of defeat.

"To me it was like giving up. I don't know why I got that in my head, I decided even if I had to crawl around on my hands and knees I was going to walk. I think partly it was growing up – none of my friends were going through the disability thing. I didn't know how to deal with it," she says. "I got on to the squad and the people on the squad told me 'It's not giving up, it's just managing it'."

She still refuses to take any drugs to relieve the pain. "I'm in pain all the time. I used to be on drugs, but it didn't take away much pain, and the side-effects were horrific, I felt dizzy, sick, tired. I came off them in 2006," she says.

Unexpectedly the stress involved in competing in an elite competition is one of the few things that helps relieve the pain.

"It is an intense, burning and stabbing pain … constantly there, but it gets worse if I use my feet. Competing helps because when I'm focusing on shooting, and with the massive adrenaline rush that comes, I'm not focusing on the pain that I'm in. I suppose my archery is a relief from that," she says.

Brown has combined her training with legal studies, and in 2010 she came away with a first-class law degree from the University of Leicester.

She hasn't decided whether to go further with her law studies, pointing out that archery is more fun, and noting drily that when she listens to some of her friends talk about practising law, "it sounds horrific".

She hopes the Paralympics will help improve attitudes to disability. "I think disability is a taboo, really, a bit like racism. You never know what to say. People don't want to cause offence. But I think that attitudes are changing.

"I think that the British Paralympic Association has been doing a really good job at demonstrating how inspirational the athletes are."